This op-ed originally appeared in the March 12, 2018 issue of SpaceNews magazine. SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son (left) and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk (right) are both worth roughly $20 billion on paper, but Masa’s telecom ventures generate massive amounts of cash while Musk’s biggest company, Tesla, is still losing money. Credit: Flickr.com The public has become more aware of space over the past several weeks. The awareness has been brought about by the masterful publicity of Elon Musk and SpaceX, with the company having recently performed its first launch of…

This article originally appeared in the March 12, 2018 issue of SpaceNews magazine. The world’s biggest, best established satellite operators talk of broadband as an enormously lucrative opportunity. But in truth, nothing is causing them more frustration. Demand for ever-faster broadband internet connections is maxing out today’s satellites, setting off an industry-wide stampede toward increasingly powerful high-throughput satellites (HTS). While that might sound like a good thing, the rush to HTS is driving down bandwidth prices so fast that some fairly low-mileage satellites are struggling to keep up. Seasoned operators,…

LeoSat plans to build an enterprise private network where data travels “end to end,” bypassing gateways and terrestrial infrastructure. WASHINGTON — LeoSat has not even built a single satellite but has already booked $500 million worth of orders, its executives claim. In a crowded market for low-earth-orbit satellite communications, the company believes it has found its niche selling premium services to secrecy-obsessed clients, including the U.S. military. “We’ve had a lot of interaction with DoD and combatant commands,” Michael Abad-Santos, senior vice president of LeoSat, told SpaceNews at the Satellite 2018…

WASHINGTON — If satellite constellations are to fulfill their promise of offering global communications services, they will need key technologies including low-cost antennas and laser cross-links, according to speakers at the Satellite 2018 conference here. “You’ve got to have ground antennas that are agile, affordable and can be produce in quantity,” said Erwin Hudson, Telesat Canada’s vice president for the Telesat LEO broadband constellation. Those antennas are on the horizon, he added, thanks in part to the investment of terrestrial communications companies in 5G networks. “We were upset when the…

VICTORIA, British Columbia — The Canadian government will support the development of low-Earth-orbit satellites that can bring internet services to rural parts of the country. Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced a 100 million Canadian dollars ($82 million) initiative in the 2018 Canadian government budget released Feb. 27. The Liberal Party government wants to extend internet service to rural areas in the country and believes that low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites could prove to be the solution. “Networks of LEO satellites have the potential to provide Canadians living in rural and remote areas with…